Memory and The Power of Politics

Roman Pyatkovka (b. 1955) graduated from the Faculty of Electric Power of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute in 1978. A few years later he received a second degree from the Kyiv National University of Theatre, Film and TV of Karpenko-Kary. Almost 8 years he worked at the Young People's Theatre as a main lighting designer. Since 1989 Roman Pyatkovka is a member of the National Union of Photo Artists of Ukraine. Roman Pyatkovka’s photography spans across a wide range of techniques and subject matter. He became a full time photographer since 1990 and has had numerous exhibitions worldwide. Pyatkovka’s works are in the permanent collections of Museum of Photography (Moscow, Russia), National Center for Contemporary Arts (Moscow, Russia), Museum of Ken Damy (Brescia, Italy), Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, USA), and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Moscow, Russia). Senior Lecturer Media Communications at the Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University from 2016.

StatementI never thought that photography would be the meaning of my life. For a long time I worked in the Drama Theatre of the main artist on the light, for 8 years. At one point I realized that this work - not what I wanted to do in the future, left her and became interested in artistic photography. Boris Mikhailov is one of the most famous photo-artists of the world (as well as winner of the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography) became my teacher and mentor. Since then I have been held for more than 70 collective and individual photo exhibitions. My photography spans across a wide range of techniques and subject matter. I explore local issues and concerns, the interplay of present and past in socio-cultural contexts. Soviet and Post-Soviet Ukraine — a reconsideration of what appears now (in retrospect) as a somewhat confused field of inquiry: the nature of the post-Soviet era itself. Thanks to the exhibition has become a well-known projects such as: "Ghosts. Famine 30-ies", "I come from childhood", "Games of libido", "Bitch Love", and now they are displayed in collections: Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow, Russia), National Center for Contemporary Arts (NCCA) (Moscow, Russia), Museum of Ken Damy (Bresha, Italy), Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, USA), Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Moscow, Russia), The Navigator Foundation (Boston, USA), ARTOTHEK (Nürnberg, Germany. Since 1989 I have been a member of the National Society of Photo Artists of Ukraine (NSPAU) and recently I have become a regional coordinator of UPHA (Ukrainian Photographic Alternative). UPHA is a small independent group created to help and support development of contemporary Ukrainian photography. In April, 2013 I was awarded the Sony World Photography Awards Conceptual Photographer of the Year title. I believe that in the photographic art, as in any other art, very important: self-awareness, self-deepening spiritual exhibitionism, and the creation of a dramatic concept of own feelings.